Thomas E. Blanton's legal defense in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing case cost the state more than $63,000.

Blanton's court-appointed lawyer, John Robbins, was paid $44,070 in attorneys' fees last month. An additional $19,158 was paid for extraordinary expenses, which covered fees for a paralegal, computer research, examining tapes in the case to determine if they had been doctored, a jury consultant, a court expert and an investigator, according to records from the state comptroller's office.

The money came from the state general fund and the state fair trial tax fund, which is comprised of traffic fines and other money to cover indigent defense costs.

A Jefferson County judge appointed Robbins to the case in February after Blanton's retained lawyer stepped down. The trial started April 16 with jury selection, and ended May 1 with a murder conviction in the 1963 deaths of four girls.

Robbins said the bill is reasonable and does not include more than 300 hours a paralegal worked on the case without pay. He said he worked nights, day and weekends, and turned away business to prepare for the case.

"I'm not profiting from this case," he said. "I had a job to do and I did it to the best of my ability."

Birmingham criminal lawyers said Robbins deserves every penny, and the state got him at a bargain. If Blanton had retained them, they said their fees would have been between $40,000 and $150,000.

Lawyers for Blanton's co-defendant, Bobby Frank Cherry, are retained.

Lawyer Mickey Johnson declined Tuesday night to say how much he was being paid, but said he was not getting rich off the case.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cherry, they lived a humble lifestyle before all of this. They had very little," he said. "Now they've got essentially nothing."

He said the Cherrys had to sell the trailer where they lived in Mabank, Texas, to pay their legal bills. They are now living somewhere in Central Alabama. News staff writer Kim Chandler contributed to this report.